Method for dyeing textiles

ABSTRACT

The disclosure embraces a method of dyeing and an apparatus comprising a horizontally extending generally cylindrical article dyeing vessel which is provided with a bank of nozzles extending along the interior bottom wall portion of the vessel; the nozzles are disposed to discharge liquid in a generally tangential direction with respect to the interior of the vessel; the nozzles are divided into groups each of which is connected to the out-put of a pump through one or more conduits. The conduit or conduits which deliver fluid to the nozzles are provided with a valve means so that the output of the nozzles can be controlled whereby a substantially uniform, circular fluid flow may be obtained. The vessel is provided with a suction liquid outlet slot on one side of the nozzles opposite the direction of fluid delivery and which extends the length of the vessel to enable the vessel to handle variably sized loads. A large unloading valve is provided to enable the vessel to be rapidly emptied and fluid nozzles are arranged on the interior of the vessel to flush articles out through the unloading valve.

United States Patent Luckenbach et al.

[451 Apr. 29, 1975 METHOD FOR DYEING TEXTILES [75] Inventors: RoyLuckenbach, Asheboro; John Funk, Greensboro, both of NC.

[73] Assignee: Burlington Industries, Inc.,

Greensboro. NC.

[22] Filed: Oct. 29, 1973 [2]] App]. No.: 410.549

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Scr. No. 237,683, March24. 1972, Pat.

[52] U.S. Cl. 8/158; 68/15; 68/184; 68/207; 68/210 [51] Int. Cl. B05c8/02 [58] Field of Search 8/158; 68/15, 16, 184,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.531.997 3/1925 Stcltcr68/184 2,936,212 5/1960 Karrer... 8/158 3 199,752 8/1965 Cassc....68/184 X 3,406.41 10/1968 Ridlcy 8/158 Primary liruminer-Robert L.Bleutge Assistant Exumincr-Philip R. Coe

Attorney. Agent, or Firm-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [57] ABSTRACT Thedisclosure embraces a method of dyeing and an apparatus comprising ahorizontally extending generally cylindrical article dyeing vessel whichis provided with a bank of nozzles extending along the interior bottomwall portion of the vessel; the nozzles are disposed to discharge liquidin a generally tangential direction with respect to the interior of thevessel; the nozzles are divided into groups each of which is connectedto the out-put of a pump through one or more conduits. The conduit orconduits which deliver fluid to the nozzles are provided with a valvemeans so that the output of the nozzles can be controlled whereby asubstantially uniform, circular fluid flow may be obtained. The vesselis provided with a suction liquid outlet slot on one side of the nozzlesopposite the direction of fluid delivery and which extends the length ofthe vessel to enable the vessel to handle variably sized loads. A largeunloading valve is provided to enable the vessel to be rapidly emptiedand fluid nozzles are arranged on the interior of the vessel to flusharticles out through the unloading valve.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures mgmimmsms 3.880.588

sum ESP 4 WEr-HEB APR 2 91975 SHEET 3 BF 4 Pf'aTENTEMPRZS I975 SHEET &0F 4 CJOOQGOOOOOOGOOOOOOOOOO- O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O 0 4METHOD FOR DYEING TEXTILES This is a division, of application Ser. No.237.683 filed Mar. 24, l972, and now U.S. Pat. No. 3.785.180.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates tothe article dyeing field and, more specifically, to a novel dye vesselapparatus capable of achieving uniform dyeing of a plurality of discretearticles such as woven or knitted textiles. or the like, by providingmeans for controlling the fluid circulation and dye contacting patternin the vessel with respect to the articles to be dyed as well as methodof dyeing articles using the apparatus of the invention.

In the textile dyeing art, it has long been recognized that propermixing of the dye liquor and objects being dyed was of significant, ifnot critical, importance in producing goods of precisely the same shadeof color in a single dye batch. In attempting to achieve proper mixing,it has been the conventional practice to employ rotary paddles mountedin large vats or containers which are driven during the dyeing processto effect agitation of the articles and mixing of the dye liquor. Theseso-called paddle dye vessels have not proved satisfactory, however,chiefly by virtue of their lack of flexibility in terms of both thequantity and quality of thetypes of articles that could be treated inthem. For example, delicate fabrics tended to suffer from abrasion as aresult of contact with the paddles so that the speed of rotation of thepaddles would have to be reduced resulting in an undesirable extensionof the time required to properly dye the fabrics. In addition, thebearing mounts and seals required for the rotary paddles frequentlypresented maintenance problems particularly where it has been necessaryor desirable to carry out the dyeing process under pressure.

In eliminating the use of paddles, efforts have been directed toobtaining suitable fluid circulation by the use of means for deliveringa fluid under pressure to the interior of the dye vessel such as, forexample, the arrangements disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Clement etal., 3,091,109, to Casse, 3,199,752, to Peglar, 1,874,798 and theNewcomb, 2,707,382 which is assigned to the same assignee as the presentinvention.

Although various designs and assemblies such as those presented in theforegoing patents have been suggested in the past, none have proved tobe sufficiently adaptable so as to be capable of solving the specialproblems encountered in commercial dyeing environments where productionefficiency and precise quality control factors are of primaryimportance. Many of the prior art proposals have lacked means forcompensating for the particular fabric characteristics so that their usehas been limited often to a single type of fabric. Others have only beencapable of accommodating a predetermined load size which can result inundesirable increases in production costs. Moreover, where it has beennecessary to vary the quantity of items to be dyed, the color qualityhas either been adversely affected in terms of shade uniformity orpermanence of the dyes.

The improvements of the present invention provide useful solutions to anumber of significant problems recognized in the prior art as well asadvantages which will enhance the production efficiency of discretearticle dyeing processes.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a cylindrical dyevessel is positioned with its longitudinal axis parallel to thehorizontal. On the top side of the vessel, an article receiving port isprovided which is of a size to facilitate loading of the vessel withdiscrete articles to be dyed. The port is provided with a closure membercapable of withstanding the high pressures that occur during the dyeingprocess. On the bottom interior wall of the vessel opposite the loadingport, a plurality of nozzles are positioned extending in generallyparallel relationship with the longitudinal axis of the vessel. Theoutlets of the nozzles are positioned so as to direct fluid dischargetherefrom in a generally tangential direction with respect to theinterior wall of the vessel so that the liquid circulation in the vesselwill be generally circular about an axis that is approximately parallelto or coincident with the longitudinal axis of the vessel. If desired,all of the nozzles may be supplied with liquid through a single conduitwhich is connected to the output of a high capacity pump through flowcontrol means. Alternatively, for large capacity vessels the array ofnozzles may be divided into a predetermined number of groups whichextend end to end from one end of the vessel to the other. Each group ofnozzles can then be connected to a separate pump or fed by a single pumpthrough separate conduits each of which is provided with flow controlmeans. For this latter arrangement means are provided for operating theindividual flow control means so that the fluid circulation in thevessel can be regulated relative to the size of the load in the vesselas well as the mixing of the dye liquor. In both arrangements, means areprovided for controlling the temperature of the fluid delivered to thenozzles whereby temperature variations of the fluid circulating in thevessel can be maintained at a minimum or, when desired, so thatvariations in temperature can be achieved uniformly throughout thevessel when necessary.

By employing a fluid delivery arrangement .wherein the discharge offluid into the vessel is distributed along the entire axis of thevessel, mixing of the dye liquor and control of temperature variationscan be attained much more precisely and rapidly than has heretofore beenpossible.

Another feature of the present invention resides in the provision of adistributed fluid suction outlet which consists of a tangentiallydisposed slot provided in the wall of the vessel on the side'of thenozzles opposite the direction of fluid discharge therefrom. Suction isapplied to the suction outlet slot through a fluid conduit or conduitsconnected to the inlet of the pump or pumps which are provided for thenozzles. The area of this slot is preferably large so that the componentof velocity of the circulating dye liquor into the slot will be small ascompared to the tangential velocity component induced by the dischargefrom the nozzles so that the slot will be continually swept clean by thelarger tangential velocity component. Also, with this arrangement, thequantity of fluid circulating in the vessel can be precisely controlledso that the concentration and mixing of the ingredients in the dye bathcan be varied to accommodate different sized loads in the dye vessel.

Another feature of the present invention resides in the provision of anunloading valve capable of being operated by remote control so as toenable precise termination of the dyeing process by quickly emptying thedye vessel. The unloading of dye vessels for subsequent processing ofthe dyed articles and use of the dye vessel for a subsequent group ofarticles has previously been a laborious operation. The unloading valvetogether with the provision of nozzles to flush out the vessel bycascading liquid over the interior of the vessel to assure the dischargeof all of the discrete articles will greatly simplify this step in adiscrete article dyeing process.

The article dyeing apparatus of the present invention will permitexcellentcontrol of the fluid circulation as well as mixing of the dyeliquor in the vessel. In addition, variations in the load size can becompensated for so as not to adversely affect the quality of the dyedarticle either in terms of its fabric structure or color. The foregoingand other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the more detailed discussion which follows below, and inthat discussion, reference will be made to the accompanying drawing asdescribed below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of thedye vessel of the present invention illustrating in schematic form thefluid delivery system and temperature control means for one of thegroups or nozzles;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 illustratingthe disposition of the fluid delivery nozzles, suction outlet and rinseheader;

FIG. 3 is'a detailed sectional view looking down the longitudinal axisof the vessel showing the disposition of the nozzles with respect to theinterior wall of the I vessel;

FIG. .4 is adetailed view of the rinse header;

FIG. 5 is a view taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 3 of the bank of nozzlesof the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional detailed view parallel to the longitudinal axis ofthe vessel of the fluid suction outlet of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawingswherein like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views, there is shown in FIG, 1 the dye vessel 10 of the presentinvention. Preferably, the vessel is constructed from stainless steeland is capable of withstanding pressures on the order of 65 psi andtemperatures about 300F. The vessel 10 may be provided with suitablesupport legs (not shown) so that sufficient space will be availablebetween the floor and bottom of the vessel 10 to accommodate the variousplumbing and control elements. In the preferred embodiment, the vessel10 is substantially cylindrical in cross-section and is provided withdished-ends l2 and 14. The longitudinal axis of the vessel should extendin a horizontal plane. In the top central portion of the vessel, agenerally circular loading port 16 is provided through which articles tobe dyed can be delivered to the interior of the vessel 10 and throughwhich the fluid discharge header 24 or fluid suction outlet cover 60 canbe removed as will be described more fully hereinafter. A suitableclosure member 18 is provided for the port 16 and may include a windowto permit inspection of the interior of the vessel during the dyeingprocess. Closure member 18, of course, must be designed to be able towithstand the high pressures which occur during the dyeing process.

A relatively large air actuated dump valve 20 is located in a conduit 22which extends downwardly and away from the dished end 12 and serves asthe unloading port for the vessel 10. Conduit 22, of course, will unloadboth the dye liquor and the dyed articles from the interior of thevessel into a suitable extractor where the dyed articles are separatedfrom the dye liquor.

In FIG. 2, there is shown an end view taken along lines of 22 of FIG. Ilooking down the longitudinal axis the vessel 10 and showing-therelative locations of the fluid discharge header 24, the suction outlet26 and rinse header 28. As will be described later in more detail, thedischarge header 24 extends generally parallel to the longitudinal axisof the vessel 10 from adjacent the dished-end 12 to the other end 14 andis provided with an array of nozzles arranged to discharge fluidgenerally tangentially with respect to the interior wall of the vessel.The suction outlet 26 is locatedon the side of discharge header 24opposite the direction in which the fluid is injected into the vessel.

In the enlarged sectional detailed view of FIG. 3, where is shown therelative disposition of nozzles 30, 32 and 34 with respect to each otherand the bottom portion 36 of the vessel 10. Each of the nozzles isdirected so as to discharge fluid through openings, one of which isindicated at 35 in a tangential direction with respect to the interiorsurface of the vessel so that the fluid flow in the vessel 10 will begenerally circular about the longitudinal axis of the vessel.

As can be seen in FIG. 5, the fluid discharge header 24 consists ofthree rows of nozzles, designated at 38, 40, and 42 which, as pointedout above, extend along the bottom portion of the cylinder 10 ingenerally parallel relation with the longitudinal axis of the vessel 10.It should be understood that while three rows of nozzles are illustratedas few as one or more than one can be used. In one embodiment, the threerows of nozzles are divided into groups such as those designated by thenumerals 43, 44 and 45. The nozzles of an individual group are suppliedwith fluid under pressure by a separate conduit such as the conduit 47for group 43, the conduit 48 for group 44 and conduit 49 for group 45.As shown in FIG. 3, conduit 49, as are conduits 47 and 48, is cnnectedto its group of nozzles through the bottom portion of vessel 10. It ispreferable that the delivery capacity of the respective conduits 47, 48and 49 be large enough to assure that each of the nozzles of each groupare supplied with fluid at as nearly the same pressure as possible. Thesupport studs 50 and 52 are distributed along the bottom of the vessel10 and serve to impart rigidity to the discharge header structure andthe groups of nozzles are separated by walls such as at 31 in FIG. 3.

If desired, as previously noted, all of the nozzles may be supplied withfluid from a single conduit which is connected to a single high capacityoutput pump.

Referring to FIG. 4, the rinse header 28 consists of a plurality ofnozzles one of which is indicated at 54 which are arranged to spray arinsing liquid over the interior surfaces of the vessel 10 subsequent tothe completion of the dyeing process. The rinse header 28 is utilizedwhen the unloading valve 20 is open to flush out the interior of the dyevessel and carry out and complete the removal of any remaining articles.The nozzles 54 are attached to a member 55 which extends along the topof the vessel on either side of the loading port 16 and is secured tothe top portion of the vessel 10. The rinsing liquid may be supplied tothe rinse header 28 by conduit 61 which is fitted through the fluiddelivery through conduit 61.

Turning now to FIG. 6, there is shown a detailed view of the fluidsuction outlet 26 which consists of a generally rectangular slot 56which extends along the wall of the vessel from one end thereof to theother and is connected to conduit 58 which is in fluid communicationwith the inlet side of pumping means utilized to supply fluid to thefluid discharge header 24, later to be described. A perforated metalplate 60 which may be coated with a friction reducing substance such asthat sold under trademark TEFLONI is mounted within the vessel 10 andextends the length of a slot 56. The lowerend of the plate 60 is fixedas at 63 adjacent to the lower edge of the slot 56 while the upper endof the plate 60 is secured to the inner wall of the vessel at 64 whichis at a distance from the slot 56. With this arrangement of theperforated plate 60, the open area of the suction outlet 26 is increasedso that the radial velocityand flow of liquid into a unit area of theslot 56 is small incomparison to the tangential velocity component ofthe circulating liquid. The tangential circulation which is achieved asa result of the tangential discharge from the fluid discharge header 24will keep the suction entrance free of articles being dyed while theliquid level in the dye vessel 10 can be controlled by the suctionexisting in conduit 58. A Teflon coatedconvexly curved blank 65 may bepositioned as illustrated in FIG. 6 across the plate 60 to facilitatethe movement of articles past the plate 60 by breaking the suction pullthrough the screen. Spacers 68 may be provided to maintain the positionof the plate 60 and blank 65 with respect to the wall of the vessel.

The operation of a dyeing apparatus as thus far set forth will now bedescribed with reference in particular to FIG. 1 however, it should beunderstood that the following description is merely one example of themanner in which the apparatus of the present invention may be operatedand that numerous variations will be apparent to those skilled in thisart.

Liquid is supplied through valved conduit 70 to the inlet side of a highcapacity pump 72 which may be of the open impeller type. Dye material isadded through valved conduit 71 or, if desired, directly through port16. The driving motor of pump 72 is preferably electric and current tothe motor is monitored by ammeter 75 in line 74. The output of pump 72is fed through conduit 76 to one or more fluid control systems, onebeing provided for each of the groups of nozzles in the discharge header24 when separated groups are used. Since each of these fluid controlsystems are identical, only the system which supplied fluid to theconduit 48 will be described, it being understood that the conduits 78and 80 will direct fluid to similar control system for conduits 47 and49 respectively if such separated groups of nozzles are used. Conduit 82will deliver liquid to a heat exchanger 84 and a bypass valve 83 inconduit 85 is used to control the volume and velocity of the liquidsupplied to the conduit 82. The heat exchanger 84 is of conventionaldesign and may consist simply of a chamber in which a plurality of tubesare arranged which carry fluid from conduit 82. Steam may be fed throughconduit 86 and chilled water may be fed through conduit 88 in amountsregulated by a temperature programmer 90 which controls throttle valves92 and 93 so that the amount of heat transferred to the liquid passingthrough the heat exchanger 84 may be precisely proportioned.Conventional temperature indicating means such as thermocouples 94 areappropriately connected to the conduits leading into and out of the heatexchanger 84 so that the temperature condition of the respective fluidscan be monitored. The steam or chilled water is delivered from the heatexchanger 84 either to a drain through conduit 96 which is provided witha gate valve and steam trap or to a sump through conduit 98 which isalso provided with a conventional gate valve. Pressure indicating gauges100 may also be supplied in conduit 82 and 102 to permit monitoring andaccurate control of the fluid delivered to the fluid discharge header24. Conduit 102 is connected to conduit 48 through an air actuated gatevalve 104.

As previously described, conduit 58 will pass fluid from the vessel 10through an air actuated gate valve 106 to the suction inlet of pump 72.A valved bypass conduit 108 is provided between conduits 102 and 58 sothat fluid delivered by the pump 72 may be used to backwash perforatedplate 60. This is achieved by closing valve 104 and 106 and openingvalves and 110. With pump 72 running in the normal manner fluid will betaken from the header 24 and passed from the pump 72 to line 108 todischarge through the suction outlet 26. This reverse circulation willeffectively clean perforated plate 60 of lint or other material that mayaccu mulate thereon during a dye cycle.

The dye vessel 10 is provided with a water supply through valved conduit112 as well as valved conduit 69 and air under pressure through valvedconduit 114 which is also provided with a pressure regulator 116. Anappropriate number of condition monitoring means such as pressureindicators 118 and temperature indicators 120 may be provided at spacedpoints about the vessel 10. A conventional liquid level indicator 122should be provided as is customary in dyeing apparatus. The dump valve20, as a safety precaution, should be provided with a temperatureinterlock 124 so that the valve will not open in the event that thefluid in.the dye vessel 10 is in excess of a predetermined temperature.The dye vessel 10 should also be provided with a closable air vent andadjustable pressure relief valve while the closuremember 18 in port 16should be provided with a pressure interlock so that the port will notopen where there is more than a predetermined pressure differencebetween the inside of the vessel 10 and the prevailing atmosphericpressure.

After the dye vessel is loaded with articles such as socks to be dyedthrough the top port, water at the appropriate temperature is suppliedthrough valve conduits 69 and 70, through the pump, heat exchanger andvalve 104 to all of the nozzles or to a selected group of nozzlesdepending upon the type of arrangement employed. The temperature of thewater may be regulated as it passes through the heat exchanger 84.Subsequently, dye is added through conduit 71, 70 and 76 and 82 to theheat exchanger 84 and is mixed with the water already in the vessel 10.The temperature of the liquid in the vessel is then raised to apredetermined level by circulating the liquid through the heat exchanger84 which is appropriately modulated. An air pad is then applied to thevessel through conduit 114 so that the pressure dyeing temperatures areachieved. As previously noted bypass valve 83 is used to adjust thevolume and velocity of the fluid delivered to the vessel with suctionbeing transmitted through conduit 87 which is connected to the suctioninlet of pump 72.

When dye has been exhausted, the vessel 10 is cooled so that it can beunloaded. This is accomplished by applying cold water to heat exchanger84 or by introducing additional cool water through valved conduit 69while discharging excess water to drain. Before unloading the vessel 10,it maybe desirable to add a treatment solution such as a softener whichcan be simply achieved by addition of the desired material upstream ofthe pump 72. Subsequently it is preferable to backwash the fluid whichis accomplished by operating the valves as indicated above. To unloadthe vessel 10, the air pad is maintained through conduit 114 andpressure regulator 116 and valve 20 is open. When the liquid level inthe machine reaches a predetermined point. the air pad is' turned offand valve 59 is opened to admit fluid to the rinse header 28. Inaddition, water is admitted through conduit 112 at this time and thisconduit is arranged to directly flow at a large velocity in thedirection of the unloading valve 20 to assure removal of all articlesfrom the vessel. The nozzles 54 of the rinse header are arranged so asto cascade water down all the internal surfaces of the dye vessel 10 towash out any remaining articles from the vessel 10.

To facilitate efficient operation, all of the valves of this systemshould be of the remotely controllable, air actuated type so that all ofthe valves as well as the pump and the monitoring control elements canbe centrally mounted and displayed on a control console and sequentiallyactuated by a rotary switch arrangement, by card or tape readers, or atimed stepping switch system. When using a control arrangement such asone of the foregoing, a number of operating conditions would be pre-set,such as the rate of temperature rise, the flow rate, the liquid leveland the air pad pressure, all depending on the quantity of articles tobe dyed in a given cycle of the apparatus. As pointed out previously,where inspection or monitoring indicates non-uniform turbulence withinthe dye vessel 10, the flow of liquid to an individual group of nozzlescan be throttled back by adjusting the valves effecting the delivery offluid to the respective group of nozzles. Similarly, where the monitorelements indicate temperature variations in the nature of cold or hotspots in the die vessel 10, the temperature of the fluid discharged fromthe appropriate group of nozzles can be adjusted to compensate for thevariation.

One of the principal advantages of the apparatus of the presentinvention resides in its ability to handle variable quantities ofdiscrete articles in a dye cycle due chiefly to the design of the fluidsuction outlet 26 since by virtue of its large open area along thecircumference and length of the dye vessel 10 suitable fluid mixing andcirculation can be maintained commensurate with continuous variations inload sized as opposed to discrete differences. By way of example, with adye vessel having dimensions of approximately /2 feet in length and 5feet in diameter and with the capacity of conduits 47, 48 and 49equaling approximately the capacity of conduit 58, the dye vessel couldbe used for loads ranging from 50 to 200 pounds corresponding toapproximately 190 to 750 gallons of dye, respectively.

From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that the apparatus of thepresent invention provides a very efficient and versatile device that iscapable of achieving and controlling optimum operating conditions whichis particularly important in the dyeing of numerous synthetic materialsthat are now being used in the manufacture of clothing articles.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a particularembodiment, it will be understood that variations in the describedembodiment will become obvious to those skilled in this art. Alsocertain modifications or additions can be made to the describedstructure and all obvious variations and modifi-' cations are intendedto be included in the scope of this invention.

What is claimed is: v

1. A method of uniformly dyeing a'plurality of discrete textile articlesin a dye vessel of the type having a substantially cylindrically shapedinterior wall with a horizontally disposed longitudinal axis and spacedapart end walls, at least one row of nozzles arranged to dischargeliquid in a generally tangential direction with respect to said interiorwall, a closable loading'port and closable unloading port, conduit meansfor supplying liquid to said row of nozzles, means for controlling thetemperature of the liquid supplied to said row of nozzles, includingmeans for circulating said liquid through adjustable heat transfermeans, means for controlling the rate of flow of the liquid through saidconduit means, the method comprising the steps of:

supplying a liquid under pressure through said row of nozzles to theinterior of said vessel to set up a substantially circular flow aboutsaid longitudinal axis of the liquid and articles to be dyed,

heating said liquid to a first predetermined temperature, supplying adye material through said row of nozzles while maintaining the circularflow of the contents of said vessel, 1

heating the contents of said dye vessel to a second predeterminedtemperature that is higher than said first temperature by passing theliquid contents of said vessel through said heat transfer means,

maintaining the circular flow in said vessel until the dye material isexhausted,

cooling the contents of said vessel to a predetermined temperature bypassing the liquid contents of said vessel through said heat transfermeans, and subse' quently unloading the articles and liquid in saidvessel through said unloading port.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein a liquid outlet is providedadjacent said row of nozzles in said wall of said vessel and includingthe step of reversing the direction of liquid flow in said vessel,subsequent to the cooling step, by supplying liquid to the interior ofsaid vessel through said outlet.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 including the step of placing thecontents of said vessel under a predetermined pressure subsequent to thestep of supplying a dye material thereto.

1. AN IMPROVED ANIONIC DYEABLE POLYESTER WHICH HAS BEEN
 1. A METHOD OFUNIFORMLY DYEING A PLURALITY OF DISCRETE REACTED WITH CONCENTRATEDPHOSPHORIC ACID FOLLOWED BY REACTION WITH AN ALKYLENE POLYAMINE. TEXTILEARTICLES IN A DYE VESSEL OF THE TYPE HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLYCYLINDRICALLY SHAPED INTERIOR WALL WITH A HORIZONTALLY DISPOSEDLONGITUDINAL AXIS AND SPACED APART END WALLS, AT LEAST ONE ROW OFNOZZLES ARRANGED TO DISCHARGE LIQUID IN A GENERALLY TANGENTIAL DIRECTIONWITH RESPECT TO SAID INTERIOR WALL, A CLOSABLE LOADING PORT AND CLOSABLEUNLEADING PORT, CONDUIT MEANS FOR SUPPLYING LIQUID TO SAID ROW OFNOZZLES, MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE LIQUID SUPPLIED TOSAID ROW OF NOZZLES, INCLUDING MEANS FOR CIRCULATING SAID LIQUID THROUGHADJUSTALBE HEAT TRANSFER MEANS, MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE RATE OF FLOWOF THE LIQUID THROUGH SAID CONDUIT MEANS, THE METHOD COMPRISING THESTEPS OF: SUPPLYING A LIQUID UNDER PRESSURE THROUGH SAND ROW OF NOZZLESTO THE INTERIOR OF SAID VESSEL TO SET UP A SUBSTANTIALLY CIRCULAR FLOWABOUT SAID LONDITUDINAL AXIS OF THE LIQUID AND ARTICLES TO BE DYED,HEATING SAID LIQUID TO A FIRST PREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE, SUPPLYING ADYE MATERIALS THROUGH SAID ROW OF NOZZLES WHILE MAINTAINING THE CIRCULARFLOW OF THE CONTENTS OF SAID VESSEL, HEATING THE CONTENTS OF SAID DYEVESSEL TO A SECOND PREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE THAT IS HIGHER THAN SAIDFIRST TEMPERATURE BY PASSING THE LIQUID CONTENTS OF SAID VESSEL THROUGHSAID HEAT TRANSFER MEANS, MAINTAINING THE CIRCULAR FLOW IN SAID VESSELUNTIL THE DYE MATERIAL IS EXHAUSTED, COOLING THE CONTENTS OF SAID VESSELTO A PREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE BY PASSING THE LIQUID CONTENTS OF SAIDVESSEL THROUGH SAID HEAT TRANSFER MEANS, AND SUBSEQUENTLY UNLOADING THEARTICLES AND LIQUID IN SAID VESSEL THROUGH SAID UNLOADING PORT.
 2. Themethod as claimed in claim 1 wherein a liquid outlet is providedadjacent said row of nozzles in said wall of said vessel and includingthe step of reversing the direction of liquid flow in said vessel,subsequent to the cooling step, by supplying liquid to the interior ofsaid vessel through said outlet.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 1including the step of placing the contents of said vessel under apredetermined pressure subsequent to the step of supplying a dyematerial thereto.